Work ability of a particular person is a dynamic state that reflects the current degree of harmony of his/her health, skills, attitudes, motivation towards the job requirements he/she exerts. It is primary linked with particular person.
However, it is also possible to speak of the work ability of a group of workers within a company, professional groups or age groups etc.
From the age point of view, we speak of work ability, especially in adults, at any stage of the work age, the situation of those retired people who work. Pupils and students who are preparing for future jobs can also talk about working skills.
From the point of view of the position on the labor market, the work capacity concerns not only employees, but also entrepreneurs and the self-employed. Work capacity also applies to people who work in volunteer or educational settings. Work ability is the worker’s most important asset.
In terms of time, work ability is a dynamic phenomenon. Its level may be stable in the long run for a particular person, but it may experience variations in intensity or may show a growing or decreasing trend. One of the most noticeable effects on PS decline is aging.
Level of work ability can be measured, for example, by using the Work Ability Index (WAI). It is information to what extent a particular person is in accordance with the requirements of his/her position.
The work ability of a particular person is a multidimensional phenomenon. It consists of different components and structures that are dynamically intermingled and influenced. At the same time, the work capacity is influenced by various internal and external factors of different levels of influence (in more detail below).
The level of work capacity can be actively influenced by internal and external factors, in the form of prevention, support, or compensation for unfavorable objective circumstances and influences such as illness. Interventions can be both systematic and ad hoc, individualized and mass-targeted. The essential part of the responsibility for maintaining and developing work capacity lies with the worker himself.
The aim of work-based care is to maintain balance and stability between job demands and own resources.
Individual factors of work ability
A multidimensional model of the so-called Work Ability House, created in 2010 by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH), is used to describe the factors that influence and create work capacity.
The first floor of the House, which carries all the other floors, is health and functional capacity. The second floor consists of competencies, ie sets of knowledge and skills that enable high-quality work performance. Changes in competence requirements are changing with the development of job requirements. The third floor is made up of values, attitudes and motivations in terms of work-life balance. The fourth floor concerns work and the work environment. These include, in particular, the management style, workplace layout and work conditions.
Work ability must be perceived in the context of external conditions. These factors include, in particular, the family, the social network of human beings, the changes in the labor market and the resulting changes in law, the development of technologies, the operating environment, global trends etc.
Work Ability Index™ and utilization of obtained results
Work ability can be measured. One of the tools is the so-called Work Ability Index™ (WAI) developed by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. Using WAI, a person’s ability to work is measured using a self-assessment questionnaire validated against his or her health documentation. WAI has been tested on a broad sample of the population and its high level of validity, reliability and objectivity has achieved wide application in many countries around the world.
The index is based on a self-assessing questionnaire that will be completed by a worker whose WAI is measured. The individual answers are scored and the result is a score ranging from 7 to 49 points, with the number of points increasing the ability to work. Low work ability means that the job demands of the specific position and the worker’s capacity are in significant discrepancy.
The WAI questionnaire contains questions from the following areas:
| Areas | points | |
| 1 | Current work ability in relation to the best one | 0 – 10 |
| 2 | Current work ability in relation to work demands | 2 – 10 |
| 3 | Number of medically diagnosed diseases | 1 – 7 |
| 4 | Impairment of work capacity due to illness | 1 – 6 |
| 5 | Working absence due to illnesses | 1 – 5 |
| 6 | Estimated work capacity over the next 2 years | 1, 4, 7 |
| 7 | Mental capacity | 1 – 4 |
| scores | 7 – 49 |
How Work Ability to Measure – Work Ability Measurement by Work Ability Index™ (WAI)
The term “work ability” means the sum of factors that enable a woman or a man to perform a given task in a certain situation (Ilmarinen & Tepmel, 2010). It was tested, translated into 29 languages, and used in Europe and beyond, and its validity has already been proven to date, based on data from 6,000 participants surveyed by Finnish companies during an eleven-year study (Krainski, 2010).
The method of measuring work capacity is simple, practical, reliable and repeatable. Selected questions allow to objectively evaluate all criteria that affect the employee’s work ability. WAI™ differs from classical questionnaire tools in the sense that it is a very heterogeneous structure of the questionnaire, consisting of questions from seven different fields characterizing both the worker and his physical and mental health assumptions to master his/her job classification as well as the nature of the work and work claims.
Assessing Employee Work Capability with the WAI™ is currently considered to be one
of the leading methods of comprehensive, multifactor assessment of the employee’s working ability due to his age, work patterns and health.
The WAI™ questionnaire to determine the value of the work capacity index is internationally standardized, it contains a total of 25 questions and there are a total of 85 pre-prepared answers. Since chapter 3 of the WAI™ questionnaire contains data regarding the health status of the employee being measured, this part of the questionnaire for validation of its validity is compared with the medical
documentation of the worker. Data obtained from the measurements is considered confidential and the questionnaire itself is treated as a medical documentation.
The objective of objectivizing an individual’s employee’s ability to work is to choose a way to get the employee’s own responses to standardized questions. The result of the final calculation is the WAI™ index value, which expresses the employee’s working ability on the score range 7 – 49 points. The higher the value, the better its work ability. The ability to work is ranked as poor, average, good or excellent.
Tab X: Division of individual value categories WAI (Rautio & Michelsen, 2013)
| WAI SPAN (points) | Categories of Work Ability | The aim of the follow-up measures is |
| 7-27 | Low | Recovery of bad working capacity now |
| 28-36 | Average | Improving work capacity |
| 37-43 | Good | Promotion of good work ability |
| 44-49 | Excellent | Maintaining excellent working abilities |
Use of results
For a particular worker, the method allows to objectively monitor the development of work performance scores over time, and to compare the results of other measured individuals with the same professional or age group with repeated testing. When measuring a large number of employees, these results can be compared to each other in relation to gender, age, individual profession, and lifestyle.
On the basis of the comparison, it is possible to determine whether the employee’s ability to work in the rated firm deviates from the reference values. The primary objective is to determine how many employees in different occupational groups have a low working capacity depending on age. Subsequent measures should be targeted primarily at low-skilled workers, as a large part of them may fall into the category of incapacity for work unless the necessary support measures are taken. (Novotný et al., [2014])
For employers, results are beneficial in the following areas:
- an estimate of actual and future staffing potential
- identification of risks and risk groups at an early stage
- Initialization of preventive measures
- measuring the effectiveness of the measure
The concept of work capacity and the results of its measurement integrate the areas in which active measures can be applied at the corporate level:
- worker health
- competence and motivation
- workload
- leadership and organization of work